Manufacturing in Myanmar’s Shan State is in decline due to the civil war. Laos is the main transit route. The use of psychoactive ingredients like ketamine is also in the crosshairsOutreste Asia is “literally swimming in methamphetamine,” a U. N. official said.
Milan (AsiaNews) – For the first time, a record one billion methamphetamine tablets were seized in East and Southeast Asia last year, according to a report released through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The COVID-19 pandemic and the civil war in Myanmar have increased the source and lowered prices. Therefore, despite an increase in seizures, massive amounts of reasonable artificial drugs are available.
In total, the local government seized 171. 5 methamphetamines, up from 170 in 2020.
While in East Asia, the quantities of methamphetamine seized fell for the third year in a row, from 25. 7 tons to 19. 5 tons, the Lower Mekong region has noticed an expansion of drugs.
About 89% of the seizures were made in Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (countries that form the so-called Golden Triangle, a region known for producing only methamphetamine but also opium and heroin), as well as Vietnam and Cambodia.
“Porous borders only facilitate the movement of drugs through regions and territories, but also the movement of chemicals, controlled and uncontrolled, to illicit production sites,” the report says.
“This has allowed organized criminal teams to diversify their sites and production methods” and “develop new products and substances, adding new psychoactive substances” such as ketamine.
In Cambodia, for example, 2. 7 tons of ketamine were seized, nearly 15 times the amount confiscated in the past five years combined.
Of two laboratories dismantled in 2021, one manufactured drugs on a commercial scale. In January of this year alone, 165 tons of chemicals stored in 3 other warehouses were seized.
While production of liquid, crystalline and powder methamphetamine appears to have declined, tablet seizures increased by more than 16% between 2020 and 2021.
“The region is literally swimming in methamphetamine and I think it’s the best time for the region to take a close look at the policies in position to tackle the problem,” said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Despite the seizures, the thieves’ activity continued to grow, Douglas said; in fact, lower costs mean more production of medicines.
For all countries in the region, methamphetamines are a major fear due to their use and related criminal activities.
Intensified anti-drug operations in Thailand and southern China have led smugglers to use northern Laos; in the communist-led country, interceptions exceeded 669 percent, according to the UNODC report.
In 2021, organized crime used Laos as its main transit country, with seizures reaching a record 143 million tablets (more than double the last five years combined), most imported from Myanmar’s Shan State.
Myanmar is the country in the region where seizures have declined due to political instability following a military coup on February 1, 2021.
However, the quantities of methamphetamine seized exceeded all years prior to 2020 and were accompanied by a return to ketamine production in early 2022, as well as a backlog of seizures of ecstasy, heroin and opium, for the first time since 2014.
Manufacturing in Myanmar’s Shan State is in decline due to the civil war. Laos is the main transit route. The use of psychoactive ingredients like ketamine is also in the crosshairsOutreste Asia is “literally swimming in methamphetamine,” a U. N. official said.